Over the next three months, I will be reading through the major works of Jane Austen: Sense and Sensibility, Northanger Abbey, Mansfield Park, Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Persuasion. To supplement this project—and to serve as an addendum to The Modern Dash—I have created a new Web blog: Reading Jane Austen. There, I will be writing a log of my thoughts and criticisms of Austen’s work, as it is read it.

The specifics of the project can be found at RJA, so I won’t repeat them here. However, my introductory post is especially worth taking a look at, as it offers a frank discussion of my decision to do this as an extensive topic. There will undoubtedly be some overlap between my writing at the other site and the content written here. Hopefully, the Jane Austen Project will allow me to better understand the 19th century, and by extension give me some background on the roots of the Modernism movement.

Let me know if you have any suggestions; I invite participation, as always.

The Modern Dash Projects

To assist me in organizing information, I will be—over time—initiating topic-related projects. As relates to The Modern Dash, the goal of these projects will be to help facilitate conversation and allow for the metaanalysis of literature and other art related to the study of Modernism.

As an ongoing TMD project, I will explore the short story as it relates to Modernism. I have already touched upon stories by Irwin Shaw, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and James Joyce. There will be more to come! For example, already on the docket are future readings/analysis of works by Franz Kafka and Jorge Borges. I am particularly interested in the short stories that shed light on the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. So, there will be more Shaw and Fitzgerald. And to test the genesis of the short story as a narrative form, I’ll be reaching back to Victorian works and beyond.

I welcome any suggestions by TMD readers. Of course, keep in touch and help contribute to the Short Story Project.

The Short Story Project Key Questions

How did the short story arise as a mode of literary and rhetorical communication?

What restraints and freedoms are given to short story writers?

What is the “most efficient” method of narrative locomotion for the short story medium?

How does the short story serve Modernism as a literary/aesthetic movement?

Ideally (though I don’t have a specific date in mind) I will some day be able to answer these questions. Or, at least, I will be always progressing toward some final answer, ever refining the thoughts that give meaning and association to this topic.

Coming Soon: My Reflection on The Modern Dash

Within the next few weeks, I will be writing a reflection on what this web log means to me. Certainly, this site is young and has a lot of space to cover. However, I feel that I have gained a sizeable knowledge of how things will look in the future. The Short Story Project is a look at that future.